The Shaky Hands

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‘The Shaky Hands’ feels like a classic debut, almost as though it’s following an invisible lineage of great US debuts (from The Feelies “Crazy Rhythms through R.E.M’s “Murmur” to Neutral Milk Hotel’s “On Avery Island") and, like these bands, they come fully-formed and with a singular voice, in the case of The Shaky Hands this voice belongs to main songwriter Nick Delffs. As it floats restlessly through the scales, one minute wide-eyed and soulful, the next with a flat, resignation it’s the type of charismatic, identifiable voice that doesn't always need to hit the right note to strike a chord in the listener. All of which wouldn’t count for much if the songs weren’t so damn good. And they are, from metronomic opener, ‘Whales Sing’ and its winning approximation of Otis Redding’s ‘I Can’t turn You Loose’ right through to the handclaps and good vibes of closer ‘Summer Life’. Single, The Sleepless with its staccato verses and effervescent chorus could be a long lost classic Britpop single, whilst Why and How Come, with its Byrds-like arpeggio guitars and flailing drums will, for those with a long enough memory, bring recollections of great lost 80’s American bands like Let’s Active or The Dream Syndicate. And though the up-tempo numbers are the ones that will initially stick inside your head it’s perhaps the slower songs that will define this record. There’s a striking, mystical beauty to songs like, “Another World Pt 1 & 2” and “The Clapping Song”, so much so that when Delfs in

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The Shaky Hands

Lunglight

Let It Die

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Paste Magazine Sampler 48

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IGIF Presents: Endless Summer Vol. I

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Paste Magazine Sampler, Issue 48

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Musikexpress 01/10

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